After Watertown Correctional Facility on Dry Hill was closed in March 2021, local officials called for the state to commit to reusing the properties in some manner, A year later in March 2022, the state closed Ogdensburg Correctional Facility and five other prisons. Local officials again called for plans to reuse the facilities.

Gov. Kathleen Hochul’s Prison Redevelopment Commission, tasked with coming up with a plan for reusing 12 prisons that have closed since 2009, released a 140-page report in December. A 15-member panel, the commission met for six months with state agencies, community stakeholders and economic development organizations to address vacant and blighted prison facilities and develop recommendations for creative uses for the properties. A team from Empire State Development visited each closed prison in the report and met with local leaders and community members.

Each of the 12 closed prisons, including Ogdensburg and Watertown correctional facilities, was analyzed, and opportunities for each site were explored “to help them better serve the state’s economic needs.”

The report called for the state to first issue a request for proposals for the Watertown facility. Companies and agencies will be able to submit applications for what they might use the prisons for, but the report made no recommendations for what kind of uses those may be. It also did not provide a timeline for RFPs for the Ogdensburg facility, although it did suggest removing razor wire around the property and keeping the heating systems running.

The Watertown Correctional Facility closed in March 2021. (Provided photo — Watertown Daily Times)

Last week in a joint Assembly and Senate budget hearing on economic development, both Assemblyman Scott Gray, R-Watertown, and Sen. Mark Walczyk, R-Watertown, questioned Empire State Development Commissioner Hope Knight and General Services Commissioner Jeanette Moy on the redevelopment project. Knight responded that the Watertown prison would be part of a redevelopment project in fiscal year 2024.

“While this is positive news for Watertown, the commissioner has not had contact with my office about what the plan will entail moving forward,” Gray said.

As the North Country’s state legislators have noticed, there is no money directed to prison redevelopment in the governor’s proposed 2024 budget released two weeks ago. While the budget is subject to change as the legislature debates it, Gray said he’s concerned about that.

“Commissioner Knight said there are funds available,” Gray said. “But only if something comes up, so they must have some discretionary money or some pot of money available. There’s no money allocated, so they can’t be too serious about doing this if they have no money allocated for it.”

Gray said he’s been disappointed by the state’s legacy on redeveloping sites it closes. He regularly cites the St. Lawrence Psychiatric Center’s former Ogdensburg campus, abandoned since the early 1980s, as an example.

“New York state has not been a good steward of that property,” he said. “Actions and words are two different things, and the Ogdensburg psych center has become dilapidated — extreme disrepair. And that’s what we’re worried could happen again with the prisons.”

In a news release after the joint budget session, Walczyk said he shares Gray’s skepticism about the state’s legacy with property management after closing facilities, and is hopeful that local leaders will be given a voice in the redevelopment of their facilities.

“I will continue to work with Assemblyman Gray and strongly urge Commissioner Knight to work with our offices and other local leaders to personally visit these buildings and uncover their untapped potential,” Walczyk said.